Reversible raise mod
Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2025 3:55 pmI recently bought a Springfield S10 with (I think) Bennett mechanism, and ran into trouble because my lower legs seem to be freakishly long even though I am only 6'0". The back legs are adjustable, but the front legs that hold the pedal bar aren't.
With some good advice from John Davis and the help of a friend I think I've managed to come up with a workable solution.
My friend managed to track down a length of 11tpi threaded rod to fit the inserts on the guitar. He used that to make removable two-inch extension tubes that attach to the top of the front legs. Essentially the rod is set into threaded aluminium tube.
Then of course I needed longer pedal rods. I thought about trying to make new ones and might still do that in the long run, but in the meantime, here's a bodge that seems to work. The existing rods have an imperial threading but it's pretty close to M5, and will take a 25mm rod extender hex nut. So I used one of those to attach two-inch lengths of M5 studding. I had to buy new M5 ball joints as the original ones wouldn't mate with the M5 thread. They're a tight fit on the pedals but seem to work.
And after all that I now have a pedal steel that is two inches further off the ground and I can actually get my legs under it! All of the modifications simply unscrew if needs be.
Total cost has been around £40. I suspect that's a fair bit cheaper than having new legs made? Only thing that remains is to find some new rubber feet for the back legs.
With some good advice from John Davis and the help of a friend I think I've managed to come up with a workable solution.
My friend managed to track down a length of 11tpi threaded rod to fit the inserts on the guitar. He used that to make removable two-inch extension tubes that attach to the top of the front legs. Essentially the rod is set into threaded aluminium tube.
Then of course I needed longer pedal rods. I thought about trying to make new ones and might still do that in the long run, but in the meantime, here's a bodge that seems to work. The existing rods have an imperial threading but it's pretty close to M5, and will take a 25mm rod extender hex nut. So I used one of those to attach two-inch lengths of M5 studding. I had to buy new M5 ball joints as the original ones wouldn't mate with the M5 thread. They're a tight fit on the pedals but seem to work.
And after all that I now have a pedal steel that is two inches further off the ground and I can actually get my legs under it! All of the modifications simply unscrew if needs be.
Total cost has been around £40. I suspect that's a fair bit cheaper than having new legs made? Only thing that remains is to find some new rubber feet for the back legs.